by Karl DonvilDavid beats Goliath in Charleroi.
Every time there is an important change in the numbers of dogs that attend a dogshow I start finding out what might be the reason. I must admit that this time it wasn’t easy. Charleroi lost again 140 entries while last year it seemed it was recovering from its depression. A lost of over 10% must have a reason.
Due to its geographical situation within Belgium it is normal that they focus on our French neighbours, thus inviting an important amount of French judges. Understandable it is , but is it a wise decision? I doubt it as France is very important country and one of the most powerfull of the FCI concerning cynology. That means too that there must be an important amount dogshows, judges and a lot of dog fanciers that go to dogshows on a regular basis. We can suppose that those people are already spoiled and see there own judges more then often. The breeders from the south of Belgium are supposed to cross the border regularly in order to win the so important foreign titles in order to become international champion. So, what good reason would there be to subscribe another show to see the very same judges again? Is this the reason perhaps? It could very well be. From the 29 judges present 8 were countrymen and 11 came from France; 3 from Germany, one from Luxemburg, an Italian, a Spanjard, a Hungarian and Mr.Hans Muller from Switserland as Terrier judge and BIS judge. The 3 last judges had 118 dogs to judge on Sunday, that means an average of less then 40 dogs per judge while they were probably the most expensive judges present on this show. From the 1172 entries, 516 were Belgian dogs and only 218 came from France. It is obvious to me that something is not in balance. If we divide the 1172 dogs by the 29 judges, we have again an average of 40 dogs per judge.
If we put all those data on a row, it is clear that efforts have been done with more judges and especially with regard to foreign judges (compared to a few years ago) but the emphasis has been wrong. It is not just foreign judges we need, but in the first place they need to be wanted by the exhibitors or interesting enough to take a risk at least. Let me be clear anyway that I don’t say by this anything about the qualities of all the judges of course, but the rules for championship implement that there is need for diversity. I hope that the committee comes to the same conclusion in order to restore the glory of this show and turn its course again.
I was happy to find the main ring in the back hall again and it seems that the renovation of the halls continues. One of the most important things to do is to change the old factory neon lights into modern ones and to let sanitary facilities on the ground floor (in the renovated but closed hall) accessible with regard to the elder and disabled people who have to climb those huge and dangerous stairs.
On the other hand we may not forget that the halls have good parking facilities, a good central restaurant, a new modern floor and large windows that let the light flood in. And there is a large stand for the public around the main ring.
Most of the merchants and stand holders were satisfied about the weekend and seem to like this show as there are always a lot of visitors, notwithstanding the nice autumn weather outside.
On Saturday the main ring program was seriously delayed due to an agility competition and halfway the program the main ring was as good as empty. On Sunday everything was in time and a lot of spectators stayed until the end in order to find out who would be the BIS.
The winning dog on Saturday was the splendid Toy Poodle CARTIER DES SUPERS SUPERS owned and bred by Mr. VANAKEN, a remarkable dog and another champion out of this outstanding Belgian kennel. Mr.Vanaken has build up a strong reputation with his toy poodles that are reputed for not having to suffer from signs and defaults of “nanismus”.
This dwarfy dog was in competition with a giant and a reputed winner also for the title of BIS on Sunday. It was the famous Saint Bernard COURMAYEUR’S NOBODY LIKE ME from Mrs HALVORSEN-FONTEYN, the very same one who was BIS at Luxemburg a few weeks before. Breeding a giant like of this quality is as difficult as breeding a dwarf as giants suffer also from certain problems that are hard to breed out. For BIS judge Mr.Hans Muller it was a very difficult decision to pick out his ultimate winner and I am convinced that even with his experience it was like splitting hairs. He finally chose the Toy Poodle and that can be considered an honour for Mr.Vanaken as Mr.Muller is a judge who tends to like the taller breeds more. Anyway I had the impression that David and Goliath were no longer enemies to one another. Is this the happy end of a legend?
I really hope for the committee that this show did not discourage them as it certainly has its qualities and its good atmosphere and I am convinced that they will soon find the right course again to restore it its former glory again.
